And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
Churches often add a tagline on their signage summarizing their mission statement, i.e. Living Hope Church “Where Families are Cherished”
Jesus gave the Church universal and the local congregation its summary mission statement; tagline, “Making Disciples. Teaching them to Obey All He Commanded”
In the original Greek, there are four verbs in Matthew 28:19-20: go, make disciples, baptize, and teach. In English they all sound like commands, but only one of them is a command.
The Greek word for “make disciples” is the only imperative verb in the entire passage. The other three (going, baptizing, teaching) are participles. In Greek grammar, participles typically describe how the main command is to be carried out.
So the passage isn’t really four separate instructions. It’s one command with three ways to do it:
The one command: Make disciples.
How you make them:
- By going (as you go through your normal life)
- By baptizing them
- By teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded
This is every church’s mission statement commanded by the Head of the Church, Jesus.
The Greek participle for “go” is more accurately translated “as you are going” or “having gone.” He’s saying: as you move through your life, your job, your neighborhood, your family gatherings, your errands — make disciples along the way.
Most of us will never be full-time missionaries. All of Jesus’ disciples are to go and make disciples. The “going” happens when you talk to your coworker over lunch. When you sit with your kid at bedtime and pray with them. When you invite the new neighbor over for dinner. That’s the going. Wherever you are, make disciples.
There’s a difference between a convert and a disciple. A convert prays a prayer, gets baptized, and often disappears into the background of church life. A disciple is someone who is being formed to look like, sound like, and live like Jesus.
A disciple is a learner who submits to a teacher. That’s what the Greek word mathetes actually means. A disciple in Jesus’ day didn’t just take notes — he moved in with his rabbi. He watched how his teacher ate, prayed, argued, forgave, walked, and lived. And he tried to imitate him.
Now look at the word “nations.” In English it makes us think of political countries — France, Kenya, Brazil. The Greek word is ethne, which is closer to “people groups” or “ethnicities.” Every language, every tribe, every cultural group on earth. Jesus wasn’t drawing lines on a political map. He was saying: no group of people is outside this mission. There are still unreached people groups where you are today. That fact should keep you awake at night.
Jesus said, “teach them to observe all that I have commanded you” — to obey it, to do it, to live it out. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25)
We read books, listen to podcasts, attend Bible studies, and quote verses, but knowing about the Sermon on the Mount is not the same as living the Sermon on the Mount.
Discipleship is teaching people to actually do what Jesus said. To love their enemies. To forgive seventy times seven. To give without expecting anything in return. To die to themselves. To carry a cross.
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